Dream BIG! Dream DANISH!

- September 01, 2009

I promised to write about the brown non-electric warmer, so I began with the sweet chocolate pup in mind, and ended up in an entirely different story altogether. Well, ... maybe not too far different.

Who could resist this chocolate charm? :)

When small, my sister had recurrent bouts of asthma and she's allergic to a lot of things. Animals with fur are strictly banned in our household. My grandparents had to let go a dozen of rabbits they kept at their house because my sister spent two earlier years of her life there.

My grandparents also had a pet dog, or rather my mother's youngest brother had, but the dog was always kept at the back of the house and wasn't allowed to get inside. My youngest uncle always have a dog, one succeeding the other when the previous dog died, or in one case was stolen :( I don't recall of the dog being banished because of my sister's asthma. The last two dogs my uncle kept was Bonzo and its pup Deki. They were sold off by my grandma when my uncle had to move to Jakarta for work, and nobody was looking after them. It was sad :(

Meanwhile in my parents' home, the rule of having no pets with fur still applied. Fowls were okay, fishes were okay, but cats and dogs: no. I had chicken pets (one ended up on the table for lunch when I was five, it was traumatic and I threw a huge fit over it), ducks (which I had to give away because the ducks weren't suited to live in the middle of an urban housing complex we were living in), a singing bird (eaten by rats when I was away on a holiday... ARGH!), and... that's pretty much it.

My father had a more interesting venture. Him being the local government vet attracted people to come to him and offer various exotic animals for him to purchase. We once had owls to fend mice away, which didn't work because the owl apparently was the variety that eats insects and we only realized it after it was perched in the back porch. We had two tropical porcupines which turned out to be escape artists; they escaped twice from the cage built for them in the backyard. One was accidentally killed in an effort of recapture, and on the latter escape attempt the last porc was found by a local villageman who came to the house and told my parents they could have the porc back for some amount of money. My mother told him in the face: You can keep it. I didn't feel as much loss for the porc like when my chicken was cooked for soto. The porcs weren't exactly friendly and they scared me most of the times.

My dad also had a water monitor lizard once. I can't remember where he got it or where did it go when we had to move, I think my Dad gave it away to someone. The lizard was kept in a tank and was fed dead chicken every now and then. It smelled rotten (naturally) and I never went anywhere near the tank. We nearly had a python too had my mother not putting her foot down and told my dad, "Your baby daughters might ended up inside it!" The snake was a three meters long adult, found in a nearby field.

I only started to have pet cats when I already left my parent's house. One stray cat succeeding the other for the duration of three years. Not many people likes cats, although they're less najis than dogs, so my last venture of having a pet cat was unsuccessful when my housemates voted the cat out :( And then I started to pet hamsters :) Her Majesty Queen of My Universe picked up this hobby and now she has three hamsters in her house. My last hamster died last June of old age :(

The monstrocity of this campbell variety under the care of Her Majesty

Beginning early 2007, I developed a desire to get a dog pet. I was thinking about some small puppies, that could be kept inside the house. Although the trend of the time was to keep a Golden Retriever, I never dreamed of having big dogs because I figured they would need a lot of space. I want a breed that won't bark much, and is generally sweet and maybe could be depended on in hunting rats that frequented our rented house often.

altogether now: aaawww....

I wanted a Jack Russell Terrier, because I fell in love with the witty breed featured in The Mask film. :) Pomeranians seem too pretty for me to keep, I don't think I'll have the patient to groom it everyday.

Mmhm, yep, I don't think so.

At one point I wanted a Welsh Corgi, but this breed is not common in Indonesia, although it's relatives, Dachshund and Teckel, are.

The twinkling eyes, the cheerful disposition, how can one not love a Corgi Welsh?

My housemate disapproved the idea of a dog in the house because she's a cat person. I kept the dream in my head, searching for some informations on a suitable breed that one day I might be able to keep.

Mid 2007, I moved to Jogja for a brief period and met J near the end of 2007. On our third date, J brought me to his place and introduced me to his three sons. I fell immediately in love with them :) Two labradors and a mixed mutt. This kind of sealed my previous growing attraction towards J. Hahaha.

Yes, boys. Adopt a dog, attract females. It works.

After adopting these goggies I started to dream big! I want a Weimaraner! I want a Vizsla! I want more Labradors in every color! I want a Siberian Husky!